In golf the object is to score. With few exceptions golfers are motivated for an entire lifetime to improve and lower their score. This, of course, means practicing and working on parts of the game where improvements can be made and where such improvements result in lower scores. Perhaps no part of the game of golf offers the average golfer more of an opportunity to reduce his or her score than the short game. Getting “up and down” is a part of the game that most non-professionals can readily improve by engaging in a well planned and regimented practice and training schedule.
One of the most persistent problems experienced by the average or non-professional golfer lies in the inappropriate use or action of the hands during impact, particularly in the short game involving pitching and chipping. This is often referred to as flipping the hand or flipping the shaft. When this occurs, the golfer tends to move his or her hands laterally or side-to-side during impact. When the club head is pulled downwardly and just before impact or through impact, there is a great tendency for the golfer to break the wrist and attempt to flip the hands and shaft during impact. When golfers use this flipping action at impact, they find it difficult to consistently reproduce accurate shots around the green.
The proper approach, and the approach that enables golfers to consistently make good shots in and around the green and to get “up and down,” is to develop a shot where the hands remain generally stationary with respect to the forearm before through impact. This, if perfected, will enable the golfer to consistently pitch and chip shots that will end up saving strokes and lowering scores.